


dangerous night

by appleofmyrye



Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: Explanations, Jane and Ethan friendship is underrated and should have gotten more screentime, M/M, Road Trips, Sleep, and that's the tea, if you haven't heard dangerous night by thirty seconds to mars you're missing out, quiet discussions, references to the a-team, this one’s a little rusty ngl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 18:57:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14063364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appleofmyrye/pseuds/appleofmyrye
Summary: The white noise from the road outside the window is surprising comforting.





	dangerous night

Sometime after London, they’re back in the states. Them being Will, Jane, Benji, and Luther.

And himself, of course. 

They’re supposed to be flying to a small, remote town in Montana, to prevent the local cult from taking over the town. It’s a small fry, A-Team esque job - a distraction from the real world. Hunley thinks that they need a break from the real stuff for a little bit. 

(Ethan had tried to point out to him that the big stuff really didn’t happen except every 3-5 years, and everything was going to pretty calm for a while anyway, but Jane had glared at him with such force he had shut up three seconds after he’d started talking.

He’s the only one who lives for the real stuff.)

However, like any other mission they’ve ever done, something goes wrong before it even starts. It turns out there are no airports within 200 miles of this small, isolated, godforsaken town. They have to drive.

And apparently, the car that Benji picked for a “good old-fashioned American road trip” was a Prius. The smallest car in the lot. There had been at least 15 SUV’s in the parking lot, and Benji picked the Prius.

(Ethan doesn’t know why they let Benji pick the car in the first place, considering that he’s the only non-American in their entourage. How would he know what a good, old-fashioned American road trip would be like?

At least the car is black.)

They pick up the car at the closest airport (in ARIZONA) at 10:30 PM. Jane snatches the keys before anyone can say anything and slides into the driver’s seat, leaving the rest of them to fight for shotgun.

Luther wins easily.

He, Benji, and Will end up crammed in the back seat. Benji gets the right side of the car, and Ethan gets the left, leaving Will stuck in the middle.

It’s a lot more spacious inside than he was anticipating, but the longer they spend in the Prius, the more the walls seem to close in.

It’s going to be a long drive.

——————

Jane refuses to give the wheel to anyone for hours. Eventually, everyone drops off to sleep - Benji slumped against the window, Luther leaned slightly forward, and Will - 

Will is asleep too.

Asleep asleep. Dead to the world, nothing can wake him asleep.

Which is kind of an issue considering Will’s curled around his arm, his head tucked into the crook of Ethan’s neck.

Ethan tries to shift position and free himself, but it’s no use. When he tries to move more to the left side of the car, Will comes with him, adjusting in his sleep to accommodate. Eventually, Ethan gives up and leans against the left side of the car, letting Will follow him slightly. The warm weight should be helping him sleep, but his eyes will not shut.

Instead, he stares out the window as mile after mile of grass flies by. The white noise from the road outside the window is surprising comforting, and almost enough to put him to sleep.

Almost.

“When are you going to tell him?”

Ethan jumps as far as he can with Will latched onto his side. Jane does not turn from her driving, instead looking at him in the rearview mirror.

“What?”

“I said, when are you going to tell him?” Jane rolls her eyes. “Don’t act like I’m not talking to you. You’re the only one who’s still awake.”

At some point, Jane has turned on the radio. The music plays softly in the background, not loud enough to wake anyone up and quiet enough that Ethan had not noticed himself until this moment.

“Tell him what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I’ve seen you. I’ve seen him too.”

Will’s head slips off of Ethan’s shoulder slightly so that he’s dangerously close to waking up. Ethan leans back slightly so Will’s head slides back into place.

“I don’t - I don’t know what to say.” Ethan turns his head slightly so he’s looking down at Will’s. “What am I supposed to say?”

“That you love him, for starters. You can figure it out from there.”

Ethan snaps his head back up to stare at the back of Jane’s head. “I can’t just go right for that!”

“Why not?” Jane turns the radio dial so that something more upbeat plays. “It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

The words come out without hesitation. “Yes.”

“Then why is it a problem?”

“I can’t just tell him that.”

“Why not? Again.”

“What kind of context would that possibly work in?”

“Any kind!” Jane is whispering harshly. “Any context. Fuck, any situation would be great. Not everyone trusts you right of the bat. He does - implicitly.”

“I think I’m very trustworthy-“

“Your impulsiveness lurks over you like a storm cloud. You have a tendency to throw yourself into the most dangerous situation possible without really thinking about the consequences. It is very, very hard to put all of your faith in someone who is such a risk-taker.”

“If I’m so hard to trust, why do you think he trusts me?”

“I don’t think, I know he trusts you. Do you remember Dubai?”

How could he fucking forget Dubai. “Which part?”

“What do you mean which part? The big part. The building jumping. The heist part. We didn’t really do much there.” Jane drums her fingers on the steering wheel in impatience.

“Of course I remember that. I almost died.”

“And why didn’t you die?”

“Because you and Will caught me.”

“I didn’t catch you. I barely caught Will because he launched himself entirely out of the window to catch you. Do you know anyone else who would do that for you? Almost immediately after meeting you.”

“Well, I did save his life.”

“I know. I read your report.”

“Someone actually reads those?”

“I was curious how someone you just met would throw themselves out a window to save you. You should read his report - it’s very interesting. You would probably learn something.” Jane pauses, changes course. “How long have you known?”

“Known what?”

“I thought we were past this. Do not play dumb with me. You know exactly what I mean.”

Ethan does know what she means, but he doesn’t know how to tell her that he first realized he loved Will in London, in the middle of a crisis, when everything was going wrong and nothing was working in his favor. And that maybe Ethan’s loved him the whole time.

“A while.”

“And you still haven’t told him?”

In his sleep, Will shifts so that he turns more into Ethan’s side, curving his left arm more solidly around Ethan’s and sighing quietly.

“I think he knows.” Will has probably known longer than he has. It had been Ethan’s first instinct to pick up the phone in London, before the whole incident had happened in the first place, and call Will. Warn Will before anyone else.

(And maybe that had been because Ethan knows, has always known, that Will does everything in his power to protect him, even if it’s technically against the rules.

It’s always been that way. Always.)

“But you haven’t said anything! How would he know?”

“It’s like- it’s like you and Hanaway.”

Jane takes a sharp breath and tightens her grip on the steering wheel to the point that Ethan can see the whiteness of her knuckles in the faint glow of the moon. Ethan soldiers on with the comparison before he can lose his nerve.

“You always knew, right? Both of you. Even though you never- you never-“

“Yeah, Ethan, I get it.” Jane looks into the rearview mirror and chews her lip. “But you have a chance. Any time. Don’t waste it. Promise me you won’t.”

“I won’t, Jane.”

Jane finally relaxes and refocuses on driving. Maybe, maybe Ethan will talk to Will about them, about what they’re doing, what they’re avoiding. And maybe he won’t. Maybe he’ll never need to. Because right now, Will is curled up against him, dead to the world, and nothing else could make Ethan feel the quiet happiness he is feeling.


End file.
